I've been hearing a lot on the news about the Mississippi in St. Paul. I know the Minnesota is going to flood too, but I don't see forecasts for it. Anyone hear of a time frame?

I live in Montevideo (right in the upper part of the MN river). There is supposed to be an updated flood forecast coming out on Thursday. As of the last update they are talking that it could be around or just a bit higher than the 2001 level. That was around 22' here. The record '97 flood level was at 23.91' here. There is only a 10% chance of it reaching that level. Just got a letter from the city a couple of days ago. They are projecting it to be around the 2001 level or maybe just a bit higher. As of now they are going to plan for a level of 23' based on their info. They are planning to fill 50-60,000 sandbags in the next week or so, depending on how fast the water comes up. My thought is this will crest sometime in the last week of March here in town.

As for my caches I have pulled the ones here in town that are in danger. I still have a couple more to get between here and Granite falls that are in the floodplain. Hopefully I will get them this weekend.
This is also a good time to check the contents of the caches and remove some of the items that have no reason to be in the cache, and to get them dried out._________________King of the Jeff Gordon TB's!
They put that cache WHERE?

I've been hearing a lot on the news about the Mississippi in St. Paul. I know the Minnesota is going to flood too, but I don't see forecasts for it. Anyone hear of a time frame?

I live in Montevideo (right in the upper part of the MN river). There is supposed to be an updated flood forecast coming out on Thursday. As of the last update they are talking that it could be around or just a bit higher than the 2001 level. That was around 22' here. The record '97 flood level was at 23.91' here. There is only a 10% chance of it reaching that level. Just got a letter from the city a couple of days ago. They are projecting it to be around the 2001 level or maybe just a bit higher. As of now they are going to plan for a level of 23' based on their info. They are planning to fill 50-60,000 sandbags in the next week or so, depending on how fast the water comes up. My thought is this will crest sometime in the last week of March here in town.

Thanks. this gives me a time frame. Sounds like it won't be hitting the Chanhassen/Shakopee area for a couple weeks.

So tell me, how come every year I hear about flood zones needing to fill sand bags? How come when floods subside they empty all of the sand bags back into a big pile? Why not leave the darn bags filled? There's got to be a reason why they empty them.

So tell me, how come every year I hear about flood zones needing to fill sand bags? How come when floods subside they empty all of the sand bags back into a big pile? Why not leave the darn bags filled? There's got to be a reason why they empty them.

I wondered that too. I figured the bag would get all nasty and moldy._________________Dinnae fash yersel (don't worry yourself)

So tell me, how come every year I hear about flood zones needing to fill sand bags? How come when floods subside they empty all of the sand bags back into a big pile? Why not leave the darn bags filled? There's got to be a reason why they empty them.

wiki wrote:

After usage, dry sandbags can be stored for future use. Wet bags need to be disposed in a landfill as they may be contaminated by chemicals and fecal matter.

So tell me, how come every year I hear about flood zones needing to fill sand bags? How come when floods subside they empty all of the sand bags back into a big pile? Why not leave the darn bags filled? There's got to be a reason why they empty them.

You should have seen the big pile they had here after the '97 flood. They were telling city residents to go and help themselves to any that they need, but to not use them for sandboxes and such. I went and grabbed a few to fill in some holes by my place. Sure wish I had some pictures of the big pile that was left from them being removed from the levy. From what I understand, they had the sentence to serve people emptying the bags most of the summer that year.

Since that time the levees have been raised to about the 22' level. They were at around 19' before the '97 flood. They are also talking the next time the road gets rebuilt in this area that it will be raised about four feet as part of Hwy 212 is also part of the dike.

For those that don't know, the flood stage in Monte is 14'. So in '97 we were nearly 10' above flood stage._________________King of the Jeff Gordon TB's!
They put that cache WHERE?

But I think they should invent a low cost machine to fill the bags instead of relying on volunteers. Either that or move away from the flood plain.

There is one - I read an article about it relating to Fargo a year or two ago. I think it was called the Octopus. It takes a decent crew to run it as well though but they can really fill the bags._________________Hmm...

But I think they should invent a low cost machine to fill the bags instead of relying on volunteers. Either that or move away from the flood plain.

There is a machine like that here in Monte. Some have 8 arms and some have 4 arms. The one Monte has, has 4 arms. Basically what they do is dump a load of gravel in with a payloader. Each arm has it's own control for filling the bags. They fill them half full or so and then fold the top over, then set them on pallets to wait for the water to rise. The volunteers are neede for both the filing part and for placing bags onto the levee system as the water rises. Got enough practice with that in both '97 and '01. Both times I got put on state active duty during the flood._________________King of the Jeff Gordon TB's!
They put that cache WHERE?